The Mandie Collection (61 page)

Mandie shook her head. “It's too easily seen under there.” She kept looking around the room.

“How about in the clothes closet?”

“It might fit in there,” Mandie said. Opening the sliding door to the small compartment, she lifted the valise to see if it would fit, but it wouldn't. “Too tight.”

Celia looked around the room, worried. “I can't think of another place,” she said.

“I know, Celia. There's a little cabinet under your bed.” Taking the valise with her, she hurried over to the bunk and opened the sliding doors under Celia's bed. The space was empty. “It just happens we never thought to put anything in here,” she said. “And it fits, see?” She put the bag inside.

Celia watched as Mandie slid the doors shut again. Satisfied that they had hidden the valise securely, they sat down again on the settee.

Mandie picked up Snowball and began stroking his silky fur. “I really do feel bad about Jonathan not getting much to eat,” she said sadly.

“So do I,” Celia admitted.

“Do you think we ought to try to take food to him again like we were doing before?” Mandie asked.

“I'm not sure, Mandie. What if we get caught?”

“We only have a few more days until we reach England,” Mandie reminded her friend. “We wouldn't have to do it much longer.”

“I'll go along with whatever you decide,” Celia told her. “I'm really and truly sorry for Jonathan.”

“All right, then, let's do it,” Mandie decided. “Let's give him time to get settled back in the lifeboat, and then we can go talk to him.”

“We'd better be sure that crewman has finished inspecting the boats,” Celia cautioned.

“Oh yes. We'll go after lunch while most people are napping or spending time in their cabins,” Mandie said.

That afternoon the girls took a stroll on the deck, looking for an opportunity to see Jonathan when no one was around. Walking up and
down in the area of his lifeboat, they passed it several times, to see if he was there without drawing attention to themselves.

The sun beat down on them. “Oh, I wish these people would all go inside,” she complained.

“It's so hot, I don't understand why they're all out here,” Celia said.

As time passed, the girls grew tired from pacing the deck, but after a while the crowd thinned, and finally they were alone.

“Quick! Before someone else comes out. . . .” Mandie cautioned, hurrying to the lifeboat. Celia was right on her heels.

But just then a door burst open, and the little girl from the steerage section came running out onto the deck. The girls stopped in surprise.

The little girl darted toward the railing, and Mandie and Celia sped after her.

“Violet!” Mandie called. “Don't go near that rail. You could fall overboard!”

The child turned and looked at the girls and then took off again, ignoring their warnings.

Slowed by their long skirts, the girls chased her in circles. Then Violet headed straight to the railing next to the lifeboat Jonathan had been hiding in. She jumped up on the lower rung of the railing and looked back to see if the girls were following.

“Violet, get down! You'll fall into the water!” Mandie cried. When the little girl didn't move, Mandie ran toward her.

But just as she reached Violet, the child slipped between the lower railings and hurtled overboard.

Mandie and Celia screamed. Instantly, the deck was full of people. During the confusion, Jonathan popped out of his lifeboat and dived in after her.

A crowd gathered at the rail until a crewman ordered everyone back. “We've got to lower a lifeboat!” he cried.

Several other crewmen helped lower the lifeboat with a rescuer aboard.

Mandie's heart pounded. Celia squeezed her hand as they watched in horror from the railing. In the choppy water below Jonathan grabbed the little girl. He desperately clung to her, struggling to remain afloat in the high waves. Within minutes the lifeboat rowed up alongside
him, and the crewmen pulled Violet into it. Jonathan clambered over the side and sat in the bottom of the lifeboat panting.

The crowd on the deck cheered as the boat was raised again. Celia and Mandie squealed with delight. But as soon as the lifeboat reached the deck, Jonathan jumped out and disappeared into the mob. Captain Montrose and the ship's doctor quickly arrived, and the crewmen lay Violet on the deck so that the doctor could examine her.

Mandie caught sight of Mrs. Taft and Senator Morton in the crowd. Nudging Celia, she nodded in their direction.

The doctor knelt beside Violet for a few moments, then looked up. “I think she'll be all right,” he said. “She didn't take in much water thanks to the fellow who went in after her.”

The captain stood and looked around. “Yes, where is that boy who rescued her?” he asked. “Where did he go?”

No one seemed to know. Then suddenly the strange woman in black stepped out of the crowd. “I know who that boy was,” she announced haughtily. “He's the one I saw coming from the cabin of those girls there.” She pointed toward Mandie and Celia.

Mrs. Taft quickly found her way over to the girls as they tried to shrink into the crowd. “Amanda, Celia, what is that woman talking about?”

Mandie looked down. “I don't know, Grandmother,” she replied.

“We don't know that woman, Mrs. Taft,” Celia volunteered.

“Amanda,” Mrs. Taft persisted. “I'm asking you again. Was that woman talking about you two?” Getting no answer, she turned to the woman who had made the accusation. “Did you mean—?” But the woman had disappeared.

The captain called for silence. “Does anyone know who this child belongs to?” he asked loudly.

Mandie stepped forward. “Yes, sir,” she answered immediately. “Her name is Violet Masterson, and she and her sister, Lily, are traveling in the steerage section.”

Everyone gasped, and Mrs. Taft looked at her granddaughter sharply.

Captain Montrose raised his eyebrows. “And how do you know that, Miss Shaw?” he snapped.

The crowd hushed, and Violet began to cry softly.

Mandie knelt and hugged the drenched child protectively. “My kitten got out one day,” she explained, “and we chased him down to the steerage section. This little girl found him. That's how we met her.”

Senator Morton stepped out of the crowd. “So this is the child?” he said kindly.

“Yes, sir,” Mandie replied, rocking Violet back and forth.

The captain smiled weakly at Mandie. “Thank you for identifying her,” he said simply. Then calling over one of the crewmen who had helped in the rescue, he said, “Mr. Ganglinson, take this child back to steerage where she belongs, and tell her sister to make sure she doesn't come up here again,” he said harshly.

“Aye, aye, sir.” The robust man picked up Violet and carried her off toward the stairway.

Mandie expected the child to scream, but instead she seemed to like the man. She hugged his neck tightly.

Mrs. Taft put her hand on Mandie's shoulder. “Amanda, you'd better change your clothes,” she said. “You are all wet from holding that child.”

Mandie agreed and she and Celia hurried back to their cabin. “I half expect to find Jonathan in our room again,” Mandie muttered as they walked down the long corridor.

“We should at least thank him for saving Violet,” Celia reminded her.

Mandie nodded and opened the door to their room. No one was there.

Mandie quickly unbuttoned her wet dress and let it drop to the floor. “I wonder where he went?” she said. Stepping out of the dress, she hung it up to dry.

As she went to the clothes closet, her eyes fell on the cabinet under the bunk. “Look, Celia,” she cried. “The door to the cabinet is open.” She ran over and looked inside. “And Jonathan's valise is gone.”

Celia joined her and peered inside. “He
has
been in here! I suppose he needed some dry clothes, too.”

“Well, he'd better not come back,” Mandie said, sliding the door shut. Going back to the closet, she picked out a clean dress. “That strange woman has already made Grandmother suspicious.”

“But he couldn't have gone back to the lifeboat with all those people out there,” Celia reminded her.

“I know. Which means he has found some other place to hide,” Mandie said, slipping on the lavender dress. “I wonder where?”

“We certainly can't take food to him unless we know where he is,” Celia reasoned.

“It
was
courageous of him to jump off into the ocean and rescue Violet, wasn't it?” Mandie stood before the mirror, smoothing her dress. “If he hadn't been so quick, she probably would have drowned.”

Celia nodded. “He gave himself away in order to save Violet,” she said. “Now everyone is wondering who he is and where he got to.”

“I suppose he's not such a bad fellow after all,” Mandie agreed. Satisfied with her appearance, she headed for the door. “Let's go find him.”

CHAPTER NINE

HELP FOR VIOLET

Mandie and Celia checked his lifeboat, but Jonathan was not inside. Roaming all over the ship, they peered behind all the closed doors they dared open, and even checked behind the big settees in lounges where people were having tea. But they couldn't find him anywhere. Knowing it was almost time to dress for dinner, they started back to their cabin.

As they headed down the corridor to their room, they met their steward.

Mandie stopped him. “Charles, has the captain found the boy who rescued that little girl?” she asked.

“No, miss. I don't believe he has,” Charles replied. “But then, don't you young ladies know the fellow?”

“Us?” Mandie asked innocently.

“He is the one who ordered food to your cabin, I'm sure,” Charles told them.

Mandie and Celia looked at each other in desperation, not knowing what to say.

Just then Senator Morton emerged from his cabin and stopped to speak to them.

Mandie heaved a sigh of relief.

The senator smiled. “And how are the most beautiful young ladies on the ship?” he asked.

“We're fine, Senator Morton.” Mandie smiled. “And by the way, thank you for those delicious bonbons.”

Charles hurried on down the corridor.

Celia looked relieved. “Yes sir. That was so nice of you,” she said.

“Sweets to the sweet, my dears,” he said. “Well, I must be hurrying on. I have to speak to Mr. Holtzclaw about an important matter. I shall see you two at dinner.”

“Yes, sir,” the girls chimed in unison.

Inside their cabin, Celia took off her bonnet and tossed it on her bunk. “Mr. Holtzclaw,” she repeated the name. “That's the newspaper man, isn't it?”

“Yes,” Mandie replied. Flopping down on the settee, she took off her bonnet. “Oh, Celia, I'm so tired of this long boat ride. I wish I were home where I could see Uncle Ned, and Joe could help us solve all these mysteries.”

Celia sat beside her friend. “I distinctly remember Joe warning you not to get mixed up in any adventures,” she teased.

Mandie laughed. “He was just jealous that he wouldn't be along to get involved, too,” she said. “But I'm glad Grandmother has been so busy with Senator Morton. Since she spends so much time with him, she doesn't have time to worry that much about what we're doing.”

“She
is
giving us a lot of freedom,” Celia agreed.

The next morning while Mrs. Taft was attending another lecture with the senator, Mandie and Celia searched again for Jonathan without success. As the girls moved about the ship, they heard some passengers who had witnessed the rescue talking about the possibility that the boy may have fallen back overboard and drowned.

As they returned to their cabin to freshen up for the noon meal, Mandie said, “I don't think Jonathan fell overboard, do you?”

Celia shook her head and started to say something, but just then there was a knock on the door.

Mandie answered it, and a crewman handed her a note.

Puzzled, Mandie frowned. “What is this?” she asked.

“It's from the sister of the little girl who almost drowned,” the crewman explained.

“Oh, thank you,” Mandie replied as the man left. Closing the door, she quickly unfolded the note.

Celia came and stood next to her as Mandie read aloud:

Dear Miss Mandie Shaw,

I thank you with all my heart for taking care of my little sister. She told me you let the captain know who she was so he could send her back to me. Please also give my deepest thanks to the boy who rescued her. I regret to inform you, though, that Violet tossed and turned all night with a high fever. She is awfully sick. I can only pray, and I trust that you and your friends will join me.

Eternally grateful,

Lily Masterson

Mandie looked up, her eyes moist. “Celia, Violet is desperately ill,” she gasped. “Let's go down and see her!”

They raced out the door and hurried down to the steerage section to see their little friend.

As they made their way down the endless flights of steps, Mandie hoped they wouldn't get lost. Within a few minutes, however, they came out on the steerage deck. Some of the passengers spotted them, and a hush fell on the crowd.

Mandie rushed over to a shabbily dressed old woman. “Where is Lily Masterson?” she asked. “I want to see her little sister.”

The woman didn't answer but merely pointed to her left. The girls hurried in that direction and found Violet lying on a pile of old quilts.

Lily sat on the floor beside her, bathing the child's face with a wet cloth. She looked up. “You shouldn't have come down here,” she protested.

“I had to see if there was anything I can do for Violet,” Mandie said. Suddenly she saw a boy coming toward them with a bucket of water. “Jonathan!” she exclaimed. “What are you doing here? We've been looking all over for you!”